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SundayMail A civic fixer
End of the dress
Voluble Old City mukhtar has friends in high places and aims to use them
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SundayMail Mr Popper’s Penguins Jim Carrey and penguins in quirky kids’ comedy
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August 12, 2012
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Municipalities in fight for survival
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World Ryan stands as Romney’s running mate 8
Olympics Closing ceremony will mark 50 years of British music 11
Sport Mexico stun Brazil 2-1 to capture football gold 40
Mayor calls for right to impose taxes as government cuts threaten services By George Psyllides
F
OR THE past couple of months austerityhit municipalities have been making desperate appeals, warning they will be forced to suspend services soon, or shut down altogether, if they do not receive some kind of funding from the state. The latest plea for help to the government and parliament came on Wednesday, following a meeting of the Union of Municipalities. “All municipalities are at risk of closure, maybe some less than others, but the general message is SOS,” union chairman and Famagusta Mayor Alexis Galanos said. First the government and then parliament, cut funding by some €20 million altogether from approximately €90 million in total. The remainder - around €70 million - must be shared among the 30 municipalities, six of which were only created in the past couple of years. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Galanos said that despite pledges from the government, meetings with the finance ministry have been
cancelled and the funding issue left unsettled. “We’ll be in for a surprise when the municipalities start sacking people or closing down because they cannot stand on their own two feet no matter how many savings they make,” Galanos said. Beyond state assistance, municipalities also get an annual levy for refuse collection, which they can only raise by up to 14 per cent per year. The property tax paid by residents to municipalities goes to the state, while the professional tax, which municipalities once collected, was scrapped in 2002 with the state pledge that the government would reimburse municipalities for the loss of that revenue. “The agreement was that municipalities would receive what they lost plus 6.0 per cent interest,” Galanos said. That would have been €10 million this year, but this too has fallen victim to the cuts. Galanos suggested bringing back the professional tax or allowing local authorities to raise money from other forms of taxation. Lazaros Savvides, the
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Martin Wolfram of Germany taking part in the Men’s 10m Platform diving competition on the penultimate day of the 2012 Olympic Games in London yesterday (EPA)